World Energy Outlook 2006

cooking. When dung and residues are used for fuel rather than left in the fields
or ploughed back into fields, soil fertility is reduced and propensity to soil
erosion is increased.
Figure 15.5 shows the supply and demand balance of wood resources in East
Africa. Red areas represent the risk of environmental impact due to
overexploitation. In these areas, the supply of biomass energy resources is
insufficient to meet the demand. The red deficit areas in Tanzania, along the
border with Kenya, are the result of high consumption of fuelwood and
charcoal, stemming from high population density and low levels of production
of woody biomass.
The Burden of Fuel Collection
In developing regions reliant on biomass, women and children are responsible
for fuel collection, a time-consuming and exhausting task. The average
fuelwood load in sub-Saharan Africa is around 20 kg but loads of 38 kg
(Rwelamira, 1999) have also been recorded. Women can suffer serious longterm
physical damage from strenuous work without sufficient recuperation.
This risk, as well as the risk of falls, bites or assault, rises steeply the further
from home women have to walk, for example because of conversion of land to
agricultural uses.
Figure 15.6 shows the distance travelled for fuelwood collection in rural areas
of Tanzania. The average distance is highest in the central region of Singida, at
over ten kilometres per day, followed by the western regions near Lake
Tanganyika, where it is greater than five kilometres per day. Collection time has
a significant opportunity cost, limiting the opportunity for women and
children to improve their education and engage in income-generating activities.
Many children, especially girls, are withdrawn from school to attend to
domestic chores related to biomass use, reducing their literacy and restricting
their economic opportunities. Modern energy services promote economic
development by enhancing the productivity of labour and capital. More
efficient technologies provide higher-quality energy services at lower costs and
free up household time, especially that of women and children, for more
productive purposes. 10
There are important development benefits to be gained from expanding access
to modern energy services. The UN Millennium Project (2005) has
emphasised that close links exist between energy and all eight of the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Modern energy services help reduce
10. See also WEO-2004 and Victor (2005) for further discussion of the link between energy and
economic development.
428 World Energy Outlook 2006 - FOCUS ON KEY TOPICS